TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Ana Teresa Santos
“Raise Your Voice” was the closing activity of IYNF’s year Borderfree Solidarity 2017.
It built up on the experience developed throughout the previous activities of the year, and it aimed at empowering young people to take action and raise their voices for the inclusion of migrants and refugees as well as at incorporating new know-how into the IYNF network.
30 participants from 17 different countries (Albania, Armenia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Italy, Latvia, Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, USA) and with very diverse backgrounds got together in order to learn about and discuss recent challenges and potentialities for becoming active within societies in which migration has become normal to different extents.
The training included a creative mix of methods:
Non-formal education was ensured through brainstorming sessions, group presentations, role plays, Open Space Technology.
There were specific sessions providing input on Migration Policies, Good Practices, Project Management and Public Relations, to ensure the participants could also gain concrete competences regarding their future civic engagement.
It culminated on a Conference with an alternative format, using the “six thinking hats” method, on the last day, to experiment about the settings where decisions are taken at international levels.
After the first days, the activities became less input- and more output-oriented focusing on the following: a Position Paper draft, further development of the Guidelines started on the activity “Be Borderfree” and a dissemination and visibility strategy for the respective outputs, aiming to spread the word about the project topics as broad as possible, in order to impact how youth public and youth workers perceive migration related issues.
Position Paper: http://www.iynf.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/IYNF-Position-Paper-Raise-Your-Voice-With-Us.pdf
Guidelines: http://www.iynf.org/download/Working%20with%20Migrants%20and%20Refugees%20-%20Guidelines%20,%20Tools%20and%20Methods.pdf
I have engaged in all phases of the activity:
Prior to it, during a preparatory meeting and through online communication, together with the team of trainers have planned the activity - its aims and objectives, and the pedagogical plan - methods.
During, I worked as a team with my two colleague trainers, facilitating the sessions and providing input through non formal and experiential learning methods, and with the logistics team, within a cooperative mindset. We used session plans that served as guidelines for the team to follow the flow of the programme and sessions, where specific objectives and methods were described, and when necessary we adapted the plans.
As a representative of IYNF, I was also responsible to make the link between participants, the activity and the macro level of intervention of IYNF, facilitating a networking experience.
After the activity, I took part in evaluation and reporting, internal and to funders, and together with the IYNF team took care that the outcomes would be integrated in the work of IYNF as an organisation and as network.